Open innovation is what sets Destination Intelligence 3.0 apart from other comparable proposals. It aims to leverage the collective intelligence of all stakeholders and make them notice how mission driven destinations arise solidarity in terms of free contributions from skilled participants whom in turn may eventually become destination’s brand ambassadors, thus creating a cost advantage over conventional destinations

Beyond the aforementioned most conventional approaches, what sets destination intelligence 3.0 apart is the development of an open innovation system accessible to all the tourism industry stakeholders at a regional level.

An open innovation system works like a platform where innovation seekers -operators, tourism boards, governments, consultants, etc.- look for new ideas on how to tackle with their challenges by connecting with innovation solvers -trade professionals, consultants, creative designers, and experts in various fields- through open challenges where the problem is precisely formulated to help solvers envision possible solutions and submit proposals, which are to be assessed and rewarded as long as they help in solving the problem.

Among the posed challenges, there should be some non-rewarded ones for mission-driven purposes -cooperation with destinations in developing countries, destinations recovering from natural disasters, mission-driven destinations, etc.- to showcase how contribution to the greater good is one of the most powerful motivators in innovation, drawing the attention of a larger pool of creative talent than in other challenges.

Such a strategy is not only to support such mission-driven challenges, but also to raise awareness throughout the industry about the potential of mission-driven tourism, as the open innovation system leverages more intelligence and creativity for this type of purpose than for any other, hence providing mission-driven destinations with a natural competitive advantage, and compensating at least some of their constraints.

Posted by Jordi Pera

Jordi Pera is an economist passionate about tourism, strategy, marketing, sustainability, business modelling and open innovation. He has international experience in marketing, intelligence research, strategy planning, business model innovation and lecturing, having developed most of his career in the tourism industry.
Jordi is keen on tackling innovation and strategy challenges that require imagination, entail thoughtful analysis and are to be solved with creative solutions.